Karima – Retail Academy

“It’s a unique working environment. You get pulled in lots of different directions. You may be on your way to a meeting and then get stopped by a passenger asking for help. On one occasion I spent two hours helping a desperately worried passenger who had lost their passport! Whatever your job is, you’re part of the Heathrow community.

“I absolutely love my job working within the retail concessions team. Retail is vital to Heathrow, both to the customer experience and the commercial wellbeing of the airport.

“We work closely with our retail business partners to help them recruit and train the right people, essential to the success of their business and the reputation of the airport.

“It may sound a cliché but it’s true that no two days are the same. A typical day will involve back to back meetings with retailers, sometimes here in the terminal or often in London.

“It can sometimes be a challenge trying to get everything aligned as we’re dealing with so many people in so many different businesses. But the satisfaction I get is immense.

“At the Terminal 5 opening ceremony it made me feel very proud to see the Queen up on the balcony and know that I’d helped to train and develop those people in T5… proud to know I was part of this great story.

“Other than winning the lottery I can’t think of any reason why I’d leave!”